CHARGE RIDERS AND BUSINESSES MORE FOR TICKETS — AND SUCK IT UP!
4 Robert Paaswell, distinguished professor of engineering at City College; headed up the Chicago Transit Authority from 1986 until 1989
Paaswell agrees that the subway system needs to be overhauled and modernized — not doing so, he points out, could conceivably cause the city’s movers and shakers to decide that “maybe they’d rather go to Portland, Oregon, God forbid” — and he actually has a plan for getting it done.
“When the MTA calculates an operating budget, which is negotiated with the state of New York each year, it is the bare minimum for providing service every day,” he said. “But it [actually] is not enough to meet the needs, or else the stations would be clean and the trains would operate properly and the air conditioning would always work. The demand is so great and the budget is so tight that the system does not get all the maintenance it needs.”
To cover the monetary shortfall, Paaswell suggests turning to the people who benefit most from our transit system. “Business owners, developers, individual apartment owners and landlords — they should all
invest something,” he said. “I’m not thinking millions per person but, for example, just a few dollars each month as an MTA fee on top of your $3,000 maintenance fees that co-op owners pay each month. Developers would fight this, but it would go unnoticed [by individual apartment owners].”
He sees further infusions coming from increased subway fares: “They are low in New York. Many cities in Europe charge the true operating cost of the trip for a single fare drop.” In London, for example, single fares run from $6.50 to $7.80; traveling underground in Berlin can cost as much as $4. He suggested that New York should raise its standard $2.75 fare and that the city should reimburse the MTA for free rides given to students, senior citizens and less welloff job seekers.
Finally, Paaswell advised taking a cue from London, where subways, buses, ferries, railways, city highways and streets are all operated by the same entity: Transport For London. (In New York, the streets, city highways and mass transit all function independently.)
When the city of London hit drivers with a congestion charge (approximately $15.42) for entering or parking in the city during busy times, it led to a better flowing system throughout, Paaswell said. “Because there were fewer cars in the center of London, buses ran better. They ran so fast that they needed to be rescheduled.”
Paaswell’s final piece of advice is that impatient New Yorkers need to be more forgiving as improvements get made to the system. If the city shuts down lines to improve them, Paaswell argues, the work can be completed in two to three years.
“In London, around 2007, they shut down lines, people griped for two years, refurbishments were made and the city didn’t collapse,” Paaswell said. “People adjust and, in the end, the payoff is worth it. No pain, no gain.”